PDC History

The history of the Pathology Department Collection began with the "transformation" of the Anatomical Pathology Division in the Pathology Department. This occurred in 1979 when José Rodrigues Coura became responsible for the Research Vice-Presidency of the Foundation (Instituto Oswaldo Cruz - IOC was transformed in Fiocruz in 1976) and the management of the Institute made a proposal to Fiocruz management to reorganise IOC (now a unit of Fiocruz) into departments. In 1981, the Pathology Department was restructured and Gomes de Faria Pavilion was installed in a building existing until now. In 1984, Henrique Leonel Lenzi and Jane Guilhermina Arnt Lenzi, who had returned from Harvard after three years, became part of the Pathology Department team as researchers, after invitation of Professor Coura. From this moment on, the restructuring of the Department was initiated for the purposes of rescuing the initial philosophy of Escola de Manguinhos, but in a modern and more dynamic manner. For this, the following objectives were identified:

• a) studying of human pathology associated to infectious and parasitic diseases;

• b) studying of experimental models, using all technical, adequate and available resources of modern experimental pathology in order to gain knowledge on the pathogenesis of infectious and parasitic diseases; andc) qualifying competent human resources for conducting research and advanced diagnosis techniques; and,

  c) training personnel responsible for performing research and advanced diagnostic techniques.

The first fifteen years of the Pathology Department (PD/IOC) focused on satisfying these objectives and creating a basic infrastructure for conducting Pathology works. Additionally, as of 1985, the Department became responsible for protecting the Collections of macroscopic pieces of the Pathology Museum (currently named Anatomical Pathology Section Collection of IOC), and all materials from the Yellow Fever Collection.

The materials produced by the Histotechnology Sector of IOC Pathology Department (Histolab), from assays conducted in the Department, have been gathered since 1984 to form IOC Pathology Department Collection (PDC). This Collection is in constant expansion, as a result of the great number of materials necessary for scientific works, monographs, dissertations, and thesis in experimental Pathology and Hematology. The biological materials of PDC include materials obtained from approximately 20,000 cases of animals used in Experimental Pathology assays in the Department, as well as human materials from external origins. The materials have registration numbers that allow traceability of pieces, blocks and slides in each case, and it is possible to retrieve information about the assays conducted through the documents filed. It is also possible to bind such data to bibliographical production in articles, thesis or dissertations. The Collection also has studies conducted with human material, sent for consulting and diagnosis purposes. The human material is registered with different numbers, and can be easily identified and studied based on existing data.

This Collection is currently located in IOC Pathology Laboratory (the organisational structure of IOC was reviewed in 2005, and no longer has Departments), in Gomes de Faria Pavilion, Manguinhos Campus. The Collection represents the living memory (biological and documental) of teaching activities, research and consulting conducted by this research group for more than 25 years, and it is a rare and inestimable collection.

The major lines of research of the Department, which originated the PDC, developed since 1984 and still active today, now in the Pathology Laboratory, are:

• 1) Pathology, immunopathology, and pathogenesis of infectious and parasitic diseases (local and systemic reactions);

• 2) Physiology, ontogeny and phylogeny of the lymphatic and hematopoietic system, including biology and plasticity of stem cells; and

• 3) Development of techniques for high resolution photonic microscopy, especially laser confocal microscopy, and low vacuum scanning electronic microscopy.